Happy Birthday Harry!

By Troy Love

Tuesday was Harry Potter's birthday. I remember where I was the night I first learned about him. I was the cashier at Barnes and Noble. A woman came to the cash wrap with a children's book with a boy on a broomstick on the cover.  I didn't think anything of it.

A few minutes later, another woman came up with the same book. I thought it was somewhat strange, but passed it off as a coincidence.

A few minutes later, a third woman came up with the same book. "You are the 3rd person to buy this book in 30 minutes. What is so special about this book?" The woman explained to me that she had heard the author reading a portion on the radio and it sounded so good that she just had to stop by and get a copy.

After she left, I looked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on the computer only to discover that there was only one book left. I quickly bought it. The store didn't get more in stock for 2 months and by then, Harry had become an overnight sensation.

I read all 7 books to my wife (our children hadn't come yet when the first books came out).  We have great memories of reading them together.  We both cried when Dumbledore died.

There is so much about the books that I loved, but perhaps the part I most resonated with is a boy who had to deal with some very intense, very challenging trials, and never gave up. He had loved ones around him to support him, but he also had to face some things alone.

There were times that he was stubborn and tried to do it all by himself and there were times that he leaned on his support for strength. 

As my children grow up in a world of war where people fight over a chicken food chain and Satan has infiltrated every corner of the world, I hope that my children can have friends like Ron and Hermione to support them in their battles.  As much as I hope and pray that they won't have battles to fight, experience has taught me otherwise.  There will always be battles to fight and mountains to climb.

And although Harry is fictional, he inspires. Perhaps that is why he is so famous. He was an ordinary boy who was loved enough that he changed the world. Sounds like my two kids... and like Harry, I expect I will see some great things from them as they grow up.